Voter ID is destroying our democracy

The only justification claimed for voter ID laws is to prevent voter fraud. Yet numerous studies have concluded there is virtually no voter fraud in this country. In one court case brought to contest a voter ID law in Texas, those claiming voter fraud could not come up with even one case. In other words, the claim of voter fraud is a fraud. (See “The Voter Fraud Fantasy,” The New York Times.)

No one is fooled, voter ID laws have been instituted by the GOP-controlled state governments for only one purpose: to suppress the votes for Democrats. In the North Carolina case the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit unanimously found that the changes targeted black voters and were meant to hurt the Democratic Party. Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote that the measures in the law “target African-Americans with almost surgical precision” and “impose cures for problems that did not exist.”

Our democracy works when everyone is allowed to vote. Voter ID laws are intentionally undermining our democracy by preventing people from exercising their Constitutionally-protected right to vote. This violates their rights to free speech and equal protection. This is a crime on our democracy and it should be prosecuted as such. The people who have proposed and enacted these laws have committed HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS and they should be prosecuted.

These laws should be declared unconstitutional and removed from our country.

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